Reuters: Kosovo vote in elections that can complicate dialogue with Serbia

Opinion polls predict that the Vetevendosje party will win 45% in 55% of the vote among ethnic Albanians, who make up 90% of the 1.9 million population. While this would be nearly double its outcome from the 2019 elections, the VV may still need a partner to govern.

Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti, who has served as prime minister for several months last year, has won support through promises to fight corruption and its positions so that there will be no compensation in dialogue with Serbia, which lost control over Kosovo in 1999 after NATO bombings.

If Vetevendosje does not secure a majority of 61 countries, it may have to join forces either with the Democratic League of Kosovo DK, which is now in power, or with the Democratic Party of Kosovo HINA PDK from the opposition, or with the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo AAK.

Serbia, backed by Russia, does not recognise Kosovo's independence, citing the need to protect the rights of its Serb minority in Kosovo. Negotiators from the European Union and the United States have failed to ensure a compromise to allow Kosovo to join the International Organisation as the United Nations and NATO, Reuters writes away.

With a third of its labour force unemployed and a gross domestic product for residents of $4 thousand and $300, Kosovo remains the poorest country in the Western Balkans region.

Skender Habibaij, a pensioner in Pristina, said he hopes the elections will bring about a change of political elite.

“I think people should not vote for those (politics) who were in parliament before, but only for young people”, Habibaj said, who was out in cold weather and among the first to vote in a polling station, Perskopi follows.

Almost 2,000, 400 polling stations opened at 7am and will close at 19 pm. The first results are expected hours later.

“People want jobs, we want to get rid of corruption”, Luljeta Emini said after voting at a polling station in Pristina. /Periscope.